Under the new system, students receive their bachelor%s degree after three years. After that they can get their master%s degree at a different, possibly foreign, university.
Delft%s student life has to be ready for change.
In student society Virgiel%s club room, about a hundred interested people are listening to three speakers: TU Rector Magnificus, Karel Wakker; Chairman of the Student service center, Peter Verheij; and National Chamber of Societies (NCOS) board member, Fabian Horsting.
In short, the new educational model means that students will get a BSc diploma after three years, after which time their degree program can be completed at a university elsewhere in the world. Of course, BSc’s from other countries will also get their MSc degrees at Delft. Wakker: “It’s no longer possible to be aimed only at our own university. A we won’t cut it with a provincial attitude.”
Verheij thinks it’s important that students make contact with other countries and cultures. “There’s nothing wrong with a Dutch student pronouncing the French monsieur correctly for once or learning to recognise a good wine.”
Horsting, a NCOS board member, sees the new system (BaMa-model) as positive for individual students, but less so for student societies. He believes that the ‘provincial’ attitude of students results in strong links between members of student societies. “Lots of students will leave after their third-year, entering corporate life or studying at a university abroad. The amount of student society members % and definitely the amount of active members % will decrease.”
Wakker thinks that the student societies that change with their times won’t experience many problems as a result. “It’s true that student societies will have to deal with students that don’t attach themselves to the society for as long. The societies have no other option but to anticipate this and perhaps adjust their culture. Foreign students have to be given to opportunity to taste Delft student life as well.”
The students in attendance hardly protest against this talk of changing student society culture. Apparently, that well-established attitude of “it’s that way, because it’s always been that way”, doesn’t seem to be present tonight.
Handcuffs
A concerned society member poses one question: “Students in the final faze of their studies handle their studies a lot more seriously because they’re orientating themselves to the job-market. Won’t an ambitious younger student become a lot more serious if he wants to get his MSc at a prestigious foreign university? I could imagine that he would pass up working in a committee so that he can concentrate on his books.”
Once again the three speakers don’t see cause for alarm. Verheij: “The smart, ambitious student will realise that doing committee work contributes to his academic learning as well as books.Education doesn’t stop at the door of the lecture hall.”
The suspicion that students are becoming more serious about this matter would seem to be confirmed by other questions from the audience. How many foreign bachelors will there be relative to Dutch bachelors? Won’t companies snatch them up? Will there be a transition program for students dealing with the new system?
A member drinking at the bar wonders whether there will be bartenders to tap his beer in a couple of years. Even so, he doesn’t take part in the general discussion.
In front of the Virgiel building, a drunken society member is put into a Köhler rental van by two other members with his hands cuffed behind his back. He’ll probably be dropped in the middle of nowhere and have to find his way back. It does seem hard to imagine this tradition being upheld by ‘a couple of Japanese visiting for a year’ in the near future.
Under the new system, students receive their bachelor%s degree after three years. After that they can get their master%s degree at a different, possibly foreign, university. Delft%s student life has to be ready for change.
In student society Virgiel%s club room, about a hundred interested people are listening to three speakers: TU Rector Magnificus, Karel Wakker; Chairman of the Student service center, Peter Verheij; and National Chamber of Societies (NCOS) board member, Fabian Horsting.
In short, the new educational model means that students will get a BSc diploma after three years, after which time their degree program can be completed at a university elsewhere in the world. Of course, BSc’s from other countries will also get their MSc degrees at Delft. Wakker: “It’s no longer possible to be aimed only at our own university. A we won’t cut it with a provincial attitude.”
Verheij thinks it’s important that students make contact with other countries and cultures. “There’s nothing wrong with a Dutch student pronouncing the French monsieur correctly for once or learning to recognise a good wine.”
Horsting, a NCOS board member, sees the new system (BaMa-model) as positive for individual students, but less so for student societies. He believes that the ‘provincial’ attitude of students results in strong links between members of student societies. “Lots of students will leave after their third-year, entering corporate life or studying at a university abroad. The amount of student society members % and definitely the amount of active members % will decrease.”
Wakker thinks that the student societies that change with their times won’t experience many problems as a result. “It’s true that student societies will have to deal with students that don’t attach themselves to the society for as long. The societies have no other option but to anticipate this and perhaps adjust their culture. Foreign students have to be given to opportunity to taste Delft student life as well.”
The students in attendance hardly protest against this talk of changing student society culture. Apparently, that well-established attitude of “it’s that way, because it’s always been that way”, doesn’t seem to be present tonight.
Handcuffs
A concerned society member poses one question: “Students in the final faze of their studies handle their studies a lot more seriously because they’re orientating themselves to the job-market. Won’t an ambitious younger student become a lot more serious if he wants to get his MSc at a prestigious foreign university? I could imagine that he would pass up working in a committee so that he can concentrate on his books.”
Once again the three speakers don’t see cause for alarm. Verheij: “The smart, ambitious student will realise that doing committee work contributes to his academic learning as well as books.Education doesn’t stop at the door of the lecture hall.”
The suspicion that students are becoming more serious about this matter would seem to be confirmed by other questions from the audience. How many foreign bachelors will there be relative to Dutch bachelors? Won’t companies snatch them up? Will there be a transition program for students dealing with the new system?
A member drinking at the bar wonders whether there will be bartenders to tap his beer in a couple of years. Even so, he doesn’t take part in the general discussion.
In front of the Virgiel building, a drunken society member is put into a Köhler rental van by two other members with his hands cuffed behind his back. He’ll probably be dropped in the middle of nowhere and have to find his way back. It does seem hard to imagine this tradition being upheld by ‘a couple of Japanese visiting for a year’ in the near future.
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